Hello, I hope below makes sense as I've got persistent headaches and fuzzy thoughts.
How do I make friends as a lonely stay at home mum, and fill in the days for at least 6 months?
Background: 3 days before Christmas last year I was made redundant but this was a blessing as the workplace was toxic, and my son was unhappy in fulltime care. He's happy now and does parttime kinder, but only has his kinder friends for company as street kids are quite old.
My lovely husband works on the other side of Melbourne CBD so leaves quite early and gets home late, and he's desperate to help me.
My aging parents are on the other side of the city, my siblings interstate, and my extendeds are estranged.
I'm damn lucky to be a wife and mother, but I feel only like a housekeeper. All I do now is clean and sometimes cook. Now that my son can get his own breakfast I've been staying in bed longer and longer. I've tried to socialise with the other kinder parents but it's like I'm wearing an 'I'm weird' shirt because they are quick to keep walking past after a hurried greeting. There are 2 who give me a bit more time, but they are a bit wary of me too. Sports clubs largely don't suit my availability and the Council's help is a joke.
I find Melbourne cold, rushed, unfriendly, clogged, and huge. Recently I hoped to move to Darwin to be with my sister and her kids and in a warmer, more colourful, less rushed environment where my son can grow up with his family, commute is less, and there's a younger base and network. She had similar issues to me and has been happy there for 5 years after trying a few places with her husband. My husband has managed anxiety and loves Melbourne so I can't just tell him to move for my own wellbeing because he said he will crash. He won't even try a few months elsewhere which I think is unfair, but then, why should he since I'm the problem.
I'm socially trapped and I can't wait 6 months until my son starts school. I'm scared my depression is doing big damage to my family. Mental health services just prescribed ADs, the counsellor is another few weeks wait, and outreach program is God knows when.
Since there is no hope of moving to a happier place with a fresh start like Darwin, I'm sure I need to just find social weekday things to do that compliment the kinder schedule.
Sorry to clog up a forum with this but I hoped to just put my thoughts into logical order and I needed someone to talk to.
